


boyfriends?

by astralgabriel



Category: Criminal Minds
Genre: First Kiss, Fluff, M/M, Misunderstanding, reid is oblivious
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-08-25
Updated: 2015-08-25
Packaged: 2018-04-17 06:46:12
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,555
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4656717
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/astralgabriel/pseuds/astralgabriel
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Prompt: Moreid where Derek thinks that they're already dating and due to a misunderstanding, Spencer is unaware.</p>
            </blockquote>





	boyfriends?

Spencer Reid had had a rather strange morning.

Granted, normal mornings weren’t exactly a common occurrence for him, but this morning was strange for reasons that didn’t involve serial killers.

JJ had ambushed him by the door with a wide smile. When Spencer had replied with a not quite so wide, awkward grin, she took that as an invite to throw her arms around his shoulders and hug him tight. Spencer pulled away, confused and a little bewildered. JJ’s lips just curved further – which Spencer hadn’t thought possible – and she walked away with a small spring in her step.

Spencer was just willing to write it off as an odd happening, until Rossi had passed him with a knowing smirk and patted him on the back. 

“Don’t you worry about Hotch,” Rossi said. Spencer turned on the spot, his finger raised as he made to ask exactly what he shouldn’t worry about, but Rossi was gone. Spencer shut his mouth indignantly and frowned. Something had clearly happened which he didn’t know about – or realise – but the pieces refused to fit together. 

Spencer quickly decided that coffee could probably help. Maybe caffeine would hold the answer and unlock the mystery.

The few minutes solace from the rest of the team, with only the whirring on the coffee machine to keep him company, gave Spencer time to think. What had changed between him leaving work yesterday and arriving today to provoke the reactions he’d received?

He’d gone home, showered and changed, and waited for Derek to turn up. They’d been to the cinema, watched ‘The Man from U.N.C.L.E.’ and pointed out the inaccuracies throughout to each other. Then Derek had dropped him back home, and Spencer re-read ‘The Art of War’ and ‘The Divine Comedy’ before attempting to sleep at 1:37am.

Nothing significant.

Gripping his polystyrene cup, Spencer resigned himself to a temporary ignorance and made his way back to his desk. Derek hadn’t arrived yet; his paperwork sat untouched, the chair tucked in. Spencer pulled the first sheet from his pile and began to skim through, when he caught Emily smirking at him, her eyebrow quirked.

“”Bout time too,” Emily said. Spencer was slowly getting more and more confused, and it wasn’t something he particularly enjoyed.

“About time?”

“Playing dumb really doesn’t work for you, Reid. But,” Emily mimed pulling a zip across her mouth, “My lips are sealed.” Emily winked and let her eyes fall back down to the various forms scattered across her desk. It was clear she wasn’t going to elaborate further.

Spencer had come to two conclusions; either, this was a ridiculous practical joke about nothing with no clear objective, or he’d forgotten something major. As much as Spencer wanted to believe it was all a prank, the fear that his own mind had begun to turn on him tugged at him. He took a deep breath and tapped his fingers mindlessly against his palm in an attempt to distract himself. Derek would be here soon; Derek could reassure him that this was all harmless fun.

Except, ten minutes had passed, and Derek still hadn’t turned up. Growing impatient, and a little nervous, Spencer grabbed the file for the latest case review, and took a short detour to Penelope’s office. He settled on the excuse of needing her to confirm the registration plate, despite being able to recall it off the top of his head.

He knocked on the door. “Who seeks passage to the kingdom of knowledge?” Penelope called out.

“Um, Spencer?” He replied, feeling a little more relaxed. Penelope had that air about her, happy-go-lucky and always light-hearted. It was a refreshing mind set in this field of work. 

“If you wish to gain entry, then riddle me this, my noble steed,” she retorted. “Who is your favourite team member in the whole wide world?”

“I’m assuming the answer is you?”

The door swung open, Penelope standing the other side with a wild grin and her finger pressed to her lips. “Shh, boy wonder! I mean, you’re right, but what if somebody hears you?” She ushered him in, and Spencer couldn’t help but pick up on the way she stressed the word “somebody”, like he was meant to know who that was.

Penelope pushed him into one of the swivel chairs and slammed the door shut. Spencer felt boxed in, and was beginning to realise this wasn’t as great an idea as it had initially seemed. She fell into her own seat and shuffled until she was directly in front of him.

“Come on, I want details. Morgan refused to dish out juicy gossip, and a girl can’t live like that, you know?”

Spencer knew his face was likely an amusing picture by now, but he was becoming more and more confused by the minute. “Garcia, I, uh… What’s going on? Why does everyone seem to know something about me that I don’t?”

“You know, last night!”

“Last night?”

“The cinema. With Morgan.”

“It was… nice?”

Garcia paused for a moment, frowning at him. Was that… concern? “Reid, you know what last night was, right?”

“It was… a Thursday night?”

Penelope groaned, dropping her head. “You know, for a genius, you can be so oblivious sometimes.” When Spencer continued to regard her with confusion, she continued. “That was a date, Reid. Morgan took you to the cinema on a date.”

“Oh.”

And honestly, looking at it from that angle, everything clicked into place. Derek probably couldn’t have made it clearer. Thinking back, he’d even said “So it’s a date, then?” and Spencer had completely missed what he’d meant, thinking Derek was just confirming when they were going. He’d never considered that it was something more.

Granted, normally they only went out with the team. The fact that Derek had suggested it was just the two of them should’ve flagged in Spencer’s mind, but he didn’t realise it. He’d just presumed it was a best friend trip out.

Derek’s insistence on paying for Spencer’s ticket and the popcorn; Spencer had just assumed he was being polite, and that he’d return the favour next time. 

Derek’s arm draped over Spencer’s shoulders as they stared at the screen; Spencer didn’t even notice it at the time, so accustomed to Derek’s odd affectionate touches at work. It wasn’t like it was the first time Derek had wrapped his arm around Spencer’s shoulders, after all.

Derek’s affectionate tone when he said “Pretty boy”; it wasn’t a new nickname, but the way he’d said it, looking back on it, gave the term a whole new meaning.

Derek’s awkward hesitation, and his small smile as he waved Spencer goodbye, watching him walk back to his door; Spencer supposed it was just Derek’s protective streak, wanting to see him home safely.

The realisation felt like a slap in the face. They had been right there, right in front of him, and Spencer hadn’t even noticed them. The reactions of the various team members clicked into place.

“Earth to Spencer; you still with me?” Spencer snapped out of his train of thought, blinking a few times when Penelope clapped her hands in front of his face. “Thank God, I thought your fuse was fried for a moment.”

“I… No, no, I was just thinking. Wondering how I didn’t realise.”

“We all have our off-days, whizz kid. What’re you gonna do?”

“Nothing.”

“Nothing?”

“I was thinking about it, just. Logically, me and Derek being an item makes sense. We’ve always felt comfortable around each other; we’ve always been close. There isn’t anything I would put before him, like he’s proved there isn’t anything he’d put before me. That’s love, isn’t it?”

Spencer didn’t notice the door open, nor the third person enter the room. Penelope did, but she didn’t dare interrupt. “Maybe I didn’t realise at the time, but knowing now what last night was for Derek, and by consequence, me, makes it so much fonder a memory for me. He’s someone I’ve cared for, for a long time. 

“Comparing it to my past experiences, my emotions regarding him are far more intense than those I held for Lila, or even Maeve. In all honesty, I’m not sure how I didn’t come to a realisation that this was the next logical step for us sooner.”

Spencer felt a pair of arms wrapping tight around his chest from behind, and froze. A chin came to rest upon his shoulder. “I love it when you ramble, pretty boy,” Derek practically purred, and Spencer relaxed, melting into the embrace. “Here I was, too, worried I was going to have to be the sappy one.”

“Morgan?”

“Mm?”

“Can we have a second first date? Like a do-over?”

Spencer felt Derek’s arms drop away. Derek twisted the chair around to face him, and grinned. “You bet we can.”

Derek held a hand out, and Spencer gripped it, allowing the older agent to pull him up until they were chest to chest, face to face. Their first kiss was short, sweet and innocent; their second was a little longer, and a little less sweet. Derek’s hand gripped loosely in the back of Spencer’s hair; Spencer’s arms draped themselves over Derek’s shoulders.

When they pulled away, grinning at each other, Penelope whined.

“Can you do that again, pleeeeease? My camera wasn’t ready!”

**Author's Note:**

> So this is my first venture into Criminal Minds. I started watching a few weeks, and it's pretty much consumed me. Given that this is my first, I'm still a little uncertain about posting, so please don't bite!
> 
> If you want to send me a prompt, leave a comment or an ask at my tumblr, astralgabriel :)


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